The present invention relates to a photo-pressure sensitive sheet cartridge installed in an exposure device such as a laser printer, a dry copying machine and the like.
Generally, a photo-pressure sensitive sheet of paper, which is installed in the exposure device, consists of two separate sheets: a sheet body and a developer sheet. A substratum of the sheet body is coated with a certain density of microcapsules, which encapsulate a chromogenic material and a photo-curable resin. The developer sheet is coated with a developer which develops a color in reaction with the chromogenic material in the microcapsules. In such kind of sheet, the development is executed in the following manner. The surface of the sheet body coated with the microcapsules is exposed to light according to the form of an original image. Thereafter, the sheet body is pressed against the developer sheet, thereby rupturing the uncured microcapsules on the unexposed areas of the sheet body. The chromogenic material effused from the microcapsules reacts with the developer so as to fix an image on the developer sheet.
If the above-stated photo-pressure sensitive sheet is exposed to light before usage, it cannot be used any more. Thus, a cartridge is devised to contain the photo-pressure sensitive sheet as a protection from light. More specifically, pieces of felt are attached to the upper and lower surfaces of a thus narrowed outlet of the cartridge, as in a film holder which contains a film for a camera. However, this cartridge has the following problem when the photo-pressure sensitive sheet is drawn out of the cartridge: the outlet of the cartridge is so narrow that the attached felt may touch and rupture the microcapsules on the unexposed part of the sheet.